Chapter Text
He stared at Leo who was getting himself comfortable at one of the barstools along the other side of the island. “Can you make me one too? I'm kinda hungry.” Kyle pulled his jaw back shut and just turned away like he hadn’t seen anything. He bent down to pick up the tub of cream cheese and set it on the counter beside his plate. Got a knife and began to put the spread on his bagel. “Don’t ignore me, I asked nicely.”
“No you didn’t, you demanded that I make you one. Which I won’t. You’re gonna walk back out of my house, I’m gonna eat my breakfast, and I’m gonna convince myself that yesterday didn’t happen. Okay?” He tossed the knife in the sink and put the cream cheese back in the fridge. He sat down at the large wooden dining table one room over and began to eat his breakfast. Leo got up and sat at the chair across from him.
When Kyle finished his last bite, Leo spoke up. “Well, go get dressed, we gotta go. We shouldn’t take too long getting there.”
Kyle crossed his arms and stayed planted to his seat, they were locked in a staring contest now. “Why? I’ve got no reason to be there.”
“You’re gonna get a full tour of the facility, then start your classes.”
“It’s summer, why should I be taking classes? And I don’t need a tour of a place I’ll never see again.”
Leo leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “We told you yesterday, it doesn’t matter whether you want to or not, because this is what's happening.”
“No”
“No? You can’t just say ‘no’!” He hit his hands on the table and stood from his seat.
“You can’t make me do anything. You may be taller than me but I’m definitely stronger.” Kyle sat feeling smug. There really wasn’t anything Leo could do to make him go.
“I thought the Director made it very clear yesterday that there is no avoiding this. If you don’t come willingly today, we’ll find a way to make you tomorrow.” He sat back in his chair, arms crossed.
“Then I’ll call the police. They’ll put you guys behind bars for attempted kidnapping.”
“We have our ways around them. How do you think we’ve managed to stay secret all these years?” Leo was the one looking smug now.
“Fine. Just let me get dressed.” Kyle grumbled the whole way up the stairs, back to his room. He left because he was tired of arguing, not because ran out of come-backs. He put on a T-shirt, some shorts, and his purple hat, shoving his phone and house keys into his pocket before stomping back down stairs. Leo was back in the kitchen snooping through their cupboards. “Hey! Get out of there, that’s not your food!”
“I told you I was hungry.” He closed the door with a granola bar in his hand. “Where's your trash, gotta toss the wrapper.” Kyle pushed past him to the end of the counter and pulled one of the tall drawers open to reveal two trash cans.
He left it open as he rounded the counter island and walked back towards the living room. “Yo, Ann, I’m heading out. I got my phone and keys so cya.” He left out the front door, leaving it open for Leo to follow through when he was done in the kitchen. He started heading back up the road through their col-de-sac where they had come from yesterday.
“Hey, wait up asshole!” He heard his front door close and Leo’s shoes hitting the pavement behind him. Kyle stopped as Leo caught up with him. “You really couldn’t wait for me. Geezus.” He kicked Kyle lightly in the back of the leg.
“You were the one who wanted me to go back to that facility place, so I was going.” Kyle crossed his arms and smirked a little. If he had to do this he’d at least get a little entertainment out of it. Leo huffed and sped ahead of Kyle, leaving him to follow again. Kyle didn’t really mind, as long as they interacted as little as possible.
○
It was only around nine or so in the morning so it wasn’t too hot out, but California is California so Kyle was sweating a little by the time they made it back to the magic tree. Leo pulled out a pocket knife, similar to the one he had seen the tall dude use yesterday, and started carving into the tree. “How does that work?”
Leo paused before continuing his carving as he spoke. “It creates a gate to the other side.” He put his hand to the finished carving and pulled out the same doorway from yesterday, twisting the gold knob and pulling the door open to reveal the hallway.
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll learn about it in your catch-up lessons, that's why you’re here.” He followed Leo into the building. They made their way through the halls until they reached a different door. Leo pushed it open to reveal a classroom. It was a bit larger than your average classroom with a projector screen and desk on one wall and some windows on the one opposite to the door. The walls were blue with five-person round tables evenly scattered around the room. It was a very well lived room with pictures and bulletin boards posted around the room and decorative streamers hanging across the ceiling.
There was a lone man sitting at the desk by the projector screen. He looked young, around his mid twenties, with a lanyard and name card hanging from his neck. His head popped up when the door opened. “Oh hello there, are you the new kid I’m teaching today?” He stood from his desk and patted his legs before walking over to greet them at the door. He had to be at least six feet tall. “I’m Mr. Nox, I teach the classes for our kids here. Classes are typically in the evening due to having to work around the school schedule, but I’ll be giving you some catch-up lessons during the days over the summer to help you catch up to your peers. Think of it like summer school. You’ll only be taking lessons with me Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; Tuesday and Thursday you’ll have training with the rest of our pairs here.” He gave a warm smile. He was wearing a teal knit sweater layered over a white button up and khaki colored pants.
“I don’t gotta stick around for these lessons do I?” Leo asked. Kyle didn’t think he should get to miss them, if Kyle had to be here so should he.
“Not really. Mrs. Maywell said you probably should so that you guys spend more time together, but I’m leaving the choice up to you. It’s only a couple of hours anyway, we’ll be done by noon.”
“I’m gonna go find Ez then, see what he’s up to.” Leo waved at Mr. Nox then left, Kyle scowling at his back.
“Kyle, right? I’ve heard you’re not the most enthusiastic about this, but I’m hoping we can make the best of these classes. Maybe even get you to warm up a bit towards our cause.” He stepped to the side to let Kyle further into the room. “Pick a table and I’ll be right with you.” He wandered back towards his desk leaving Kyle to decide.
He picked a table near the front of the room right next to the windows and settled down. He wished he was at home right now, watching stupid videos with his cat. He has a black cat named Primus, by his father, who had chosen Kyle as her favorite person in the house. They got her a couple years ago after his dad saw an ad about kittens for sale. They had never owned a pet before, let alone a cat, so it took them a while to get into the routine. She would circle around his face in the morning if he slept in later than usual and wanted food.
Mr. Nox walked over to Kyle’s table with a laptop and some papers, settling into the seat beside him. “Today I’m just going to give you the rubric to look over and give you a basic run-down of things that might be of use to you. Feel free to ask any question you may have. We’ll go over everything in better detail in later lessons.”
○
Over the next couple hours, Mr. Nox gave a basic run down of what they would be learning; the history of the organization and how their world worked in general being the main subject throughout the whole ‘semester’. He gave most of the time so Kyle could have a Q&A with some of the questions that had been lingering from yesterday. He learned that this place was what people called heaven. Mr. Knox gave a long explanation on how this wasn’t actually heaven, but where the idea of heaven is based off of. It was some sort of mirror world that was home to all the living things that once were, or most of them. Things from people, to animals, to even plants, which is why there was so much greenery everywhere. Only those that have the power of a vessel or are accompanied by one can travel between the two worlds. Kyle’s next question was about the demons and hell, that one was bugging him the most. Mr. Nox said that depictions of hell from christian belief were actually fairly accurate. It was a small pocket in a third mirror world created by the being humans named lucifer, or the devil. That was something they'd have to wait until later to expand on. Lastly, he asked about the door in the tree. Apparently, there are many different doors like that one all over the world. They are all made from the remnants of trees or plants that used to be there, so regular people can’t see them. They can’t even interact with them unless a vessel is with them. They are remnants that are manipulated by a group of vessels to exist partly in the ‘mortal world’, then each is given a symbol that must be carved into them in order to be opened.
Kyle had lots of questions, but Mr. Nox had to shut him down. He looked at the time on his computer before starting to stack up some of the extra papers he’d brought with him. “That’s all the time we got for today. I’ll see you Friday then and I hope you have fun at your first training lesson tomorrow.”
He walked Kyle to the door, opening it to reveal Leo leaning against the wall on the other side. “Finaly, I was gonna die of boredom waiting for you to finish.” He pushed himself off the wall and stood in front of them with his hands on his hips.
“You do know you could have come in and joined us.”
“I'd rather die of boredom than listen to his stupid questions.” Leo said while shifting his weight. “Can we go now?”
“Guess you couldn’t find Ezikeal then?” Mr. Nox asked.
“Nah I found him, but he couldn’t hang around for long, he had a mission.” Leo’s face seemed to drop slightly in disappointment. “Anyways, bye Mr Nox. We’ll see you on Friday.” he waved before turning and starting down the hall. Mr Nox gave him a farewell and shook Kyle’s hand before waving him off.
They weaved through the halls until they came by the elevator from yesterday. “Okay, I’m gonna give you a basic run down of the building.”he said, pointing to the framed map beside the elevator. It had to have at least ten levels. “There are six levels above ground and six below. The top four floors are dedicated to apartment style living spaces for most of the people here, I’ll live there too after I finish high school.”
“Why don’t you live there now?” Kyle interrupted.
“They like us spending our early lives in the mortal world so that we get a proper education, socialization, and the choice of whether we want to remain active members of society or disappear here.”
“Well, at least you get a choice I guess.”
They stood in silence a moment before Leo picked back up again. “The next two floors are where all the offices and paperwork happen.”
“Where we met that balding dude yesterday.” Kyle hit the side of his fist on his palm in realization.
“Yeah, his name is Mr. Nullen. Now, the next three floors, all below the ground, are the lab areas. They do lots of chemical and genetic research down there. Mostly it’s scientists who are extremely intrigued by us and like to spend all their time trying to figure us out. Then the last three floors, well I've never actually been there, but I’m told they’re holding cells of all kinds, for demons and criminals, there are also rooms for recovery for those who get injured badly or need to be away from other people.”
“Why haven't you been down there?” Kyle felt in a particularly chatty mood today after talking with Mr. Nox.
“We aren’t allowed.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, stop asking.” Leo sounded like he was starting to get annoyed
“But-”
“Let’s just get you home.” Kyle wanted to know why, but arguing with Leo was always pointless. He guessed the poster pointing was all the tour he’s getting.
○
He ate some of the leftover beef stroganoff for lunch when he got back and made sure to write cereal on the grocery list hung on the fridge before he forgot again. He spent the rest of his day playing video games and ignoring reality. Or trying at least. He’d been staring at a game title screen for the last twenty minutes. Is this really his life now? He’s just gonna go along with it? This all felt crazy, like he was going crazy. Summer before high school and his life falls apart before his eyes. Fake heaven and real hell. Super hero people who fight demons from very real hell. Maybe he got teleported into one of his sister’s japanese cartoons or whatever they were.
There was a faint pawing sound from the other side of his door and some squeaking. He walked over to pull the door open and Primus bolted straight, jumping on his bed before standing at the edge and trilling at him. He closed the door and plopped himself on the bed beside the black cat. She twirled around and head-butted the side of his face, purring faintly. He grabbed her and she snuggled up on his chest, drooling slightly as he pet her. He liked cats far more than dogs. They were smaller, smelt better, cuddlier, calmer, and their affection felt more real, like it was earned.
○
Leo showed up at his house the same time as yesterday. Kyle was stuck with a bagel again because his mom wouldn’t go shopping until after work. Leo tried to ask for a bagel as well but Kyle quickly shut that down. It was bad enough Leo was invading his life, he wouldn’t let him invade his pantry. He still managed to get another granola bar despite Kyle’s attempts
It was around 10:00 AM when they were walking back through the hotel-like halls of the facility, or whatever it was. He had yet to come to a solid conclusion of what this place was. Leo told him that they wouldn’t be meeting the other pairs that lived here today because they were off on a mission upstate. But he would get to meet Ezikeal’s partner and he would help them get a bit of training in. They walked through yet another new area of the building, emerging through large double doors into a large outdoor area. This area was smaller than the first grassy field he’d seen, it was also more shady and cool, the whole area hidden in the building's shadow. Nikki and Richie were, again, the only other people there. Kyle thought it’d look like a karate dojo, where people all practiced like crazy.
“Yo, wassup.” Leo voiced from beside him, waving at them and getting a greeting in return. “When’s Ez gonna be here?” he said, gaining speed to meet up with the two sitting under another scraggly tree.
“I called him just a few minutes ago actually, he’s having trouble getting 3 out of bed.” Leo and Kyle sat with them under the tree, making a circle together.
“I don’t know why he does this every time. He always has to get up this early.” Richie added from the corner, fiddling with some blades of grass.
Nikki snickered slightly,“I think he likes making Ez wake him up. Ez’ll make his bed for him and carry him to the cafeteria for breakfast.”
“Lazy bum. I have to do practically the same thing with Kyle here.” Leo joked, making them all giggle, except Kyle.
“Hey! You’re the one who asked me for food this morning, and I was already awake!” They all laughed harder, which made Kyle’s ears turn a little pink as he looked at his crossed legs.
They all turned their heads when they heard the door slam open and another person come bounding across the grass. He jumped on Leo from behind while giggling, wrapping his arms around Leo's neck in a backwards hug. “Hey, hey, I heard you got attacked by a level two and ended up bonding with some normie. Are you okay? Was it big? I bet it was huge. I heard it was a demon of gluttony. How big was its mouth? Did it scare you? I bet it would’ve scared me.-” The kid talked fast and kept hitting Leo with rapid fire questions, but that’s not what had Kyle thrown off balance again. The kid had two large fluffy feathered wings and a floating golden ring around his head that had an array of different colored eyes embedded all around it.